ABSENCES AND TARDINESS

Truancy often leads to academic failure, dropping out of school, crime in the community, and many other problems. For those reasons, Virginia law requires that school-age children attend school and it requires that parents make sure their children attend school.

The law also requires that the school file legal proceedings against every parent and child who fails to comply with Virginia’s compulsory attendance laws.

In order to assist you in your parental and legal duties, and in order for us to comply with the laws, we are initiating a program and protocol to address truancy. A phone call to parents for any absence will be sent via the automated calling system.

Written notes explaining an absence must be received within five (5) days of an absence. Every absence is considered unexcused until a written explanation for the absence is received in writing. The student suffering an infectious or contagious disease, a serious illness, the severe illness of an immediate family member, the student’s exposure to a contagious disease, a death in the immediate family, fire or other serious damage to the home that requires the family to move and similar circumstances constitute excused absences.

If a student accumulates five (5) unexcused absences, you will be contacted and a parent and the student must attend an “in person” conference with the school’s Attendance Review Team to discuss the particular causes or issues surrounding your child’s absences. The conference will ordinarily include a teacher, the 3 assistant principals, the school’s social worker, and a school resource officer. At the conference, with your input, we will formulate a truancy plan to enable and facilitate attendance.

Should these efforts fail and your child misses a total of seven (7) unexcused days, more serious steps will be taken: the child and you will either be referred to a Truancy Review Team and/or the school division will file legal proceedings against the child and/or you in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

The legal proceedings may include a criminal warrant against the parent(s) and/or a “child in need of supervision” petition.

It will remain our policy that any student who has more than 20 unexcused absences during a school year must repeat the year unless there are extraordinary circumstances. Our goal is to provide all students with a quality education that enables them to compete and succeed in our increasingly competitive and challenging world.